University of Utah
Department of Mathematics
March, 2002
Volume 2, Number 6
A f t e r m a t h
And There Was Much
Rejoicing!
by Peter Alfeld
By the time you read this our move into our new
buildings, the refurbished Leroy Cowles Building
and the new T. Benny Rushing Mathematics
Student Center, will be almost complete. The
entire Department of Mathematics will be housed
in a complex (consisting of JWB, MC, and LCB)
that is essentially one building. Compared to
what used to be spread over five quite separate
buildings (JWB, South Physics, INSCC,
Kennecott, and Mines) our office space will be
modestly increased, and everything else, classrooms, computing labs, conference rooms, and,
most of all, student facilities, will be vastly
improved. Students will be able to hang out,
study, read, compute, and obtain help from
tutors in the precise center of mathematics in
the Rocky Mountain region, and next to our
library. We hope that the new facilities will create and strengthen a feeling of community
among our undergraduate students. There are
study rooms you can use to meet with groups of
students that are too large for your office. If
appropriate you can run your classes in a computing lab dedicated to classroom use. At the
same time, students can work individually in
our drop in lab. Angie Gardiner can give you
more information about these facilities. Paula
Tooman can schedule your meetings in one of our
new conference rooms. You may already be
teaching in one of our new classrooms, and your
future classes may well end up there. Efforts are
underway to secure the funding needed for making the attic of LCB fit for occupation and to
transform that area into additional mathematics
gathering space. As the finishing touch, artwork
by Anna Bliss will soon be installed.
Hugo Rossi teaches a class in the LCB
Students at work in the drop-in computer lab
Students making good use of a group study room
Finally occupying these new facilities marks the
culmination of a long process (about 25 years)
and the dedicated, determined and creative work
of many people. There will be a festive dedication on April 5. We hope to see you there!
A worker installs tables in the computer classroom.
Department of Mathematics • www.math.utah.edu • Phone 801 581 6851 • Fax 801 581 4148
Staff Member Honored
Eleen Collins was recently recognized for her 25 years of
service at the University of
Utah at a special luncheon
given by President Machen.
Eleen has spent fourteen years
with the Math Department,
and has also worked for the
departments of Computer
Science and Geology and Geophysics. Let’s give
a big THANK YOU to Eleen for the good work
she does here.
Upcoming Events
Thursday, March 7 – Paralympics Opening Ceremony.
Campus closes at 2:00 p.m.
Friday, April 5 – LCB/Math Center Dedication 3:00
p.m.
Saturday, April 13 – Calculus Challenge 9:00 - 12:00.
Undergraduates are invited to compete for cash prizes!
Graduate Minicourses
This Spring, the Math Department will be hosting two minicourses. The first will be devoted to
Complex Hyperbolic Geometry nd will take place
May 13 - 24, 2002. It will be conducted by
Richard Schwartz of Maryland and Jim Carlson
and Domingo Toledo of Utah. The second, held
May 28 - June 8, 2002, will cover Variational
Methods and Nonlinear PDE and will be conducted by Jean Mawhin of Belgium and Klaus
Schmitt and David Hartenstine of Utah. The
courses are designed for graduate students with
some background and interest in the respective
subjects. Some financial support is available
from the department’s VIGRE grant. For more
information contact Sarah Strong (581-8341) or
visit www.math.utah.edu/vigre/minicourses.
Dean’s List
Congratulations to all of our undergraduate
majors who made the Fall 2001 Dean’s List,
earning a GPA of 3.5 or higher: Lisa Andrews,
David Ayala, Maria Bell, Nicholas Buckley, Brian
Budge, Jamie Burgon, Daniel Burn, William
Cano, Rhett Christensen, Kari Christiansen,
Pedro Coronel, Elizabeth Dea, Afton Duncombe,
Traci Eldredge, Amanda Ellis, John Faust,
Monica Hills, Wei-Shou Hsu, Joel Kramer,
Predrag Krtolica, Hyang-Soon Lee, David
Lindsay, John Minuth, Asami Oka, Jeremy
Pecharich, Jeremiah Perry, Haley Petersen,
Robin Plachy, Ryan Pratt, Alex Reinecke, Ryan
Rettberg, Brent Sallay, Mindy Scott, Cynthia
Shepherd, Katie Spencer, Jeanette Thacker, Paul
Watkins, and Michael Woodbury.
Aftermath is published monthly during the academic
year. Issues of the newsletter will be archived on the
web at:
www.math.utah.edu/newsletter
Editorial staff:
Editor-in-Chief: Fletcher Gross
Editor:
Angie Gardiner
Asst. Editor:
Sarah Strong
Please contact Angie or Sarah if you have an idea
or article to submit (gardiner@math.utah.edu).
Department of Mathematics, University of Utah, 155 South, 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112